


A Layered Drink

by Reikimon



Series: Otegine and Ookurikara [1]
Category: touken Ranbu
Genre: Drabble, M/M, One-Shot, Touken Ranbu - Modern AU, bartending, making advances, otekara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 17:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15611160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reikimon/pseuds/Reikimon
Summary: Otegine, a bartender, finally gets a chance to advance things with one of his regular customers, Ookurikara, because of a layered drink.





	A Layered Drink

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted a long time ago in one of my writing challenge posts. I'm just moving it here as its own work so it can part of the Otekara series.

Otegine looked at the lone figure who was sitting at the end of the bar with his head down on his arms. He recognized the body and the mop of dark brown hair; Ookurikara, the moody man who tended to keep his distance from others. The loner had started coming to the bar several weeks ago, choosing to sit in the same place every night. He always ordered the same drink, and depending on the depth of his mood, might actually hold a short conversation with him.

 

“Bad day?” He stood behind the bar, swirling a bar towel inside a glass, waiting for a response.

 

“Nnnn.” A murmur made its way from underneath the wall of locked arms.

 

“I can listen.” The tall bartender offered. In all honesty, he would willingly listen to this man mumble names from a phone book. The low voice, the sound of disinterest that was used as a barrier to keep from having to deal with social interactions, were only a portion of what he found mesmerizing about him.

 

“Nothing worth saying.” Actual words made their way out this time.

 

“Would you like a drink?” Otegine asked, partly because of his job, but more because he wanted to stay near the man.

 

“I guess...give me whatever you feel like.” Ookurikara mumbled as he flipped a hand indicating his point of caring was at zero.

 

Otegine raised an eyebrow. He wondered what had happened that day to break him out of his routine of a white russian, 3 ice cubes, and a short straw.

 

“Alright, give me a minute.” He turned around and looked at the bottles behind him, deciding what would be a nice choice. ' _Ah_!' he thought and headed off to make the drink.

 

Ookurikara listen as the bartender walked away. He really hadn't had a bad day, just a few bothersome things here and there that had added up to make him feel put out and annoyed. He could heard the clinking of the bottles as his drink was being made. The sounds were pleasant, soft, and oddly cheerful. He scowled at the counter his nose was almost touching. He didn't like the word cheerful; although he couldn't say why.

 

“Here you go.” Otegine returned and sat the drink in front of him.

 

He slowly lifted his head and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brighter light.

 

“What is it?” He looked at the tall glass of different colored layers.

 

“My boss calls it Unicorn Tassels.” The bartender shrugged, “It's a layered drink of different alcohols.”

 

' _WTF, Unicorn Tassels?_ ' He thought to himself.

 

“I see.” He commented and picked up the straw laying next to the glass, “Do I stir it?”

 

“You're supposed to drink it by layers. But it's your drink, stir it if you like.”

 

“Excuse me?” A patron at the end of the bar called out, “I'm ready to leave.”

 

“Ah, I'll be back.” Otegine said as he attended the lady at the end of the counter. As he cleaned up the area where she had been sitting he began to hum to himself. This was the best time of day during the week to him. The time before the bar closed, when he usually had no customers except for Ookurikara.

 

He placed the dirty dishes into a bin and returned to the man who was staring at the drink, the straw still in his hand.

 

“Should I make you something else?” Otegine asked. Maybe he had guessed incorrectly.

 

“This is fine.” He stabbed his straw into the drink and took a sip. He inhaled deeply and coughed slightly, “That's kind of strong.”

 

“Yeah, it's mostly straight liquor. I can add some coke or coffee to mellow it out.”

 

A hand waved in front of him.

 

“No, no...I can handle it.” He took another sip, noting it didn't seem as sharp as the first had.

 

“Sorry you had a bad day.” Otegine wiped the counter between the two of them.

 

“Thanks. But I'm fine. Just one of those days where everything seems annoying.” He picked up some nuts and shoved them into his mouth.

 

“Ah, yeah, those days do suck. Mostly because you have nothing really big enough to rage at, but you keep feeling like you're being stabbed all day by petty stuff.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

The bar descended into silence except for the ticking of the clock and the sounds of the street that floated in past the windows and door.

 

As he continued to drink, Ookurikara began to relax. He felt warm and a bit heady.

 

“This is a pretty good drink.” His voice had lost the terseness from before. Taking another sip he let his eyes wander up the man behind the counter. He had a nice build, although a bit tall; and a nice kind fa... He sat frozen as his eyes met brown-colored ones staring back at him.

 

“Glad you like it.” Otegine smiled as he stared at the dark-gold eyes locked with his. They seemed to hold a lot more emotion than the man behind them revealed. He let his body lean forward and braced himself against the edge of the counter to get a closer look.

 

The dark-headed man took another long sip of his drink. The tastes were getting lighter and smoother, he noted. He would have looked down to see how much he had left, but that would have cost him giving up the current stare contest between the two. It wasn't that he was being competitive; he just didn't want to look away, because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to make eye contact like this again for some time.

 

Otegine began to slowly move his upper body forward. This was the most open he had seen Ookurikara and he had long wanted to know what the man's lips felt like. He had multiple reasons for continuing to close the distance between them. The first being that the man in the seat wasn't pulling back but instead keeping his gaze directed at him. However, for all the reasons he had to kiss him, there was one that caused him to stop. After reminding himself that he was on the job, he reluctantly pulled back.

 

Ookurikara blinked slowly and finally looked away as the clock chimed. He quickly drank the last of his drink and shoved the glass back.

 

“Thanks for the drink.” He mumbled as he stepped off the stool and tossed some cash on the bar.

 

Otegine frowned slightly as he watched the man walk towards the door.

 

“Wait. Give me a minute and I'll walk out with you.” He quickly wiped down the counter.

 

Ookurikara stopped and waited.

 

A few minutes later they walked out of the bar together; and, as Otegine locked the doors, Ookurikara felt the full effect of the alcohol as the fresh air hit him. He swayed a bit and was steadied by large hands.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah, I just kind of realized how strong that drink was.” He admitted.

 

“Well, you're not supposed to suck it down like water.” Otegine pointed out with a small laugh.

 

The two men walked in silence, neither one of them being able to say what they wanted.

 

Approaching the entry to his apartments, Ookurikara stopped.

 

“This is where I live. You don't have far to go, right?” He asked.

 

“Nah, I live over the bar.” Otegine smiled at him.

 

“Right. Okay. Cya some other time then. Thanks again.” He turned to go in. Stopping halfway in the door he walked back out and called to the other man.

 

“Otegine.”

 

Otegine turned around to see the shorter man standing on the steps near him.

 

“Yes?”

 

An awkward silence passed as Ookurikara tried to find the right way to phrase what he wanted to ask.

 

“Uh...I'm not sure if this is the alcohol or what.. but um..., “ he hesitated knowing he was going to feel really stupid if he was wrong, but he had to know, “back there...did you.. were you going to...kiss..me?”

 

Otegine smiled slyly. He had been caught.

 

“Yeah.” He hoped this wouldn't be a problem.

 

“Why didn't you?”

 

The question surprised Otegine.

 

“It wasn't right. You were my customer and you had been drinking.”

 

Ookurikara hesitated again as he shifted nervously.

 

“I'm not your customer now.” He mumbled and looked away.

 

Otegine smiled again. He had been given an opening to do exactly what he wanted but he knew it would be unfair to do so now.

 

“I can't.” He replied.

 

“Oh. Of course.” Ookurikara sounded slightly sullen.

 

“But if you still want the kiss tomorrow, when you're sober; I'd be more than happy to share one with you. If not, we can forget this conversation ever took place.” He knew he had to leave before his standards flew out the window, “Cya later, Ookurikara.”

 

The distance between the two men increased as Otegine walked quickly back towards the bar and Ookurikara stood on the steps watching the body disappear into the darkness. For the once, he had something to look forward to.

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
